


beyond your boundaries

by dasafuru



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comfort, Conversations, Developing Relationship, F/M, Friendship/Love, Gen, Haikyuu!! Manga Spoilers, POV Multiple, Slice of Life, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:27:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28858836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dasafuru/pseuds/dasafuru
Summary: "As long as we have volleyball, we will never be apart!"~~~A series of conversations, monologues and everything in between to fill up the vast empty space left to us by Furudate sensei in the time skip. Mostly just short fics to comfort my own soul.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou & Kageyama Tobio, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Kudos: 7





	beyond your boundaries

_1, 2, 3, 4, 5_ little spins while holding the ball on either side, twirling it with the fingers of his right hand against the palm of his left. Then a high toss, and looking intently at the ball, recalling the layout of the court in his mind for a moment, stretching his right shoulder and elbow behind him and his left arm straight in front, right palm up, then raising his arms up in one powerful movement reinforced with strength from the stretched muscles, tilting his wrist outwards before his palm connects with the equator of the ball, fingers splayed just enough, and finally slamming it away in one neat arc, not too high and not too low.

It hits the line on the opposite side, and Hinata pumps his fist happily in the air for what was his first successful accurately aimed serve of the day after failing 20 such attempts in a row. His serve is just okay enough to not hit the net now and goes across to the opposite side every time just fine. It has been reliably going over the net for some months now, but that is seriously the worst he can do and unless he can aim and place his serves, he is always going to be the one to be subbed out in lieu of a pinch server. Not that he minds, the pinch servers are there for a reason, but with the new first years now joining, and one of them very likely to become a regular, he doesn't want to be the worst server on the court and suffer having to be _the one_ to be subbed out when he came up to serve. His aiming is still hopelessly unreliable, but he will get there.

He picks up another ball and briefly wonders to four months back, to that first year training camp he had unapologetically crashed, where he was flailing about trying to understand what he could learn when he was not on the court, trying jump serves, trying this and that before inspiration had actually hit him. He shakes it off - yes, he will get to jump serves one day, but that time was not now. Moreover, it's not like he has a lot of power, so even if he gets the timing of the jump serves down and aims well enough, it will never be a great weapon unless he bulks up as much as Asahi-san within the next two months, which was as realistic as asking Kageyama to become an easy-going, all smiles, happy-go-lucky person that none of the first years would feel intimidated by. Moreover, if he got good enough in this, he could also learn how to do a standing float serve, and while that won't be on par with a jump floater, and would take many weeks to get right, it will benefit Karasuno that much more than any lousy jump serve of his will.

He glances at Kageyama doing his serve approach a few feet away from him and frowns. Kageyama has increased his approach from a 3 step one to 4 steps. The ball hits just out of bounds in the corner of the opposite side - a powerful, fast, but ultimately failed serve, and Hinata wonders if it's a good thing to change approaches now. A new approach routine will surely get some time getting used to and will mess up his hard-earned control for a while, which he seems to be trading for more power. But then again this is Kageyama, and if the coach is okay with it, Hinata didn't really have anything to say. Kageyama will get it right soon enough.

"The fuck are you staring at?" Kageyama bellows as Kageyama does, and Hinata simply ignores him and turns away, continuing with his serve practice. He thinks he hears Kageyama mutter something along the lines of 'airheaded runts' and 'spaces out after getting just one serve right' and wonders if he shouldn't be the one bellowing at Kageyama about why he had been looking at Hinata's serve practice. He decides not to. There was only half an hour left till practice ended and he knew he could not stay for extra practice tonight because his mom was away for the weekend and Natsu was alone.

The half-hour passes in a blink, and Hinata goes to Yachi who had been helping him track his success and failure count. He knew how many he did get right, placing the ball exactly where he wanted to place it, but promptly forgot the count of his failed tries. "50 to 9," Yachi informs him and Hinata pulls at his hair in frustration. The school year had started three weeks back and this was his best result so far.

"Arrghhh why can't I do better! Thank you so much though, Yachi-san, you have been so helpful with my serve practice." He smiles widely after grunting in frustration for a full minute and Yachi, bless her, was still patiently encouraging him.

"Don't worry Hinata! On the first day, you got only 1 right out of 40 so you are improving amazingly!" She looks at him with a determined smile. Hinata chuckles and they continue talking for a few minutes as the others wound up their own individual practices.

"But you know," Hinata continues, "if I can get my success rate to even 50%, then I will have to leave the court even less. Pinch servers will always be called in my place, I realize that, but if I can become reliable enough with this before the Inter-High qualifiers, I can try so much more with my serve for the rest of the year. I have to get it right quickly, Yachi-san! I have to carve out time for myself for all the other things I have to learn." Yachi looks at Hinata, who was looking at the net being rolled up with unseeing eyes and was about to declare her ardent belief that _yes, Hinata, you will get it right,_ when Kageyama interjects with his typical brusqueness.

"Rather than thinking about trying new things and running ahead of yourself, you should think about what you can change in your form and your timing to get better accuracy in the first place, dumbass," Kageyama finishes with a scoff. Both Hinata and Yachi jump at his voice, neither realizing when he had joined them and how long he had been there.

"Don't scare us like that! Have some more delicacy, you monkey-brained idiot! And stop insulting me all the time!"

"Huh? What delicacy? You are talking about your piss weak serves and I had to correct you. You will never improve them otherwise," Kageyama replies, completely unaware and uncaring of what delicacy Hinata was referring to.

Hinata gave up, there was no use making Kageyama understand things like _reading the room_ or _picking a better timing to say such a thing_ or _announcing yourself before entering a conversation_ when he had to be home early. Teaching Kageyama the fine intricacies of social etiquette will take him years, and Natsu will not wait that long for dinner.

He thanks Yachi again and goes to mop the gym, subconsciously aware that Kageyama was coming in tow to do the same.

\---

"Why don't you practice extra though?" Hinata asks as he pulls out his bike. "I know I have to be home early but you don't have to give up on the extra practice."

"It's no fun alone," Kageyama replies. Hinata quickly thinks back to all the times in the last year when he and Kageyama had practised together after hours. He scans his memory for any of those times where Kageyama looked as if he were having fun, but came up empty. Perhaps Kageyama's face was incapable of looking ecstatic outside of actual matches.

"Ah well, but you won't be alone though. The first years are staying for an hour more I heard. You could even teach them." Hinata smiled at his own advice, imagining three quivering first years doing their best not to get a cutting insult from their great, talented senpai and failing miserably in the endeavour.

"Don't wanna," Kageyama says with a yawn and asks, "Do you want to stop by Sakanoshita's shop?"

"No, I have to be home soon. I will walk with you till there though."

"Thanks." Kageyama _thanked_ him? Hinata blinked at him. Kageyama was lazily walking and looking ahead, unaware of the scrutiny he was under, probably not finding anything amiss in his own behaviour. That won't do. He decides to irk Kageyama and get him back to scowling and being mean.

"Ah but that is good of you Kageyama. The first years are definitely scared of you. You could make them cry the entire practice with just your demonic glare," he says with a grin, watching closely for a change in expression and is not disappointed.

"Huh? Shut up, you idiot!" Kageyama yells, scowling mightily and Hinata feels very satisfied with himself, pulling his bike along and chuckling meanly at him.

His satisfaction doesn't last though when Kageyama's face quickly relaxes again and he asks, "But why are they scared? I haven't yelled at them even once. I haven't even spoken to them all that much." His question was quite earnest and if the surprise of Kageyama's temper retreating so quickly was not enough, his seeking Hinata's advice on his behaviour was.

"Oh er - well, haha, that's true. You are just hard to approach I guess, haha. Kind of like how animals are afraid of you for no reason, you know." Hinata suddenly felt a little nervous. He doesn't want to detract Kageyama from his apparent willingness to improve his general behaviour and painfully realizes he cannot be too offhanded or poke too much fun at him on the topic. Doing that though will be very, very hard. He has no experience in being careful with his words and not blurting out the first thing that pops in his head. That requires thinking, which he couldn't start this late in the evening, so he decides to change the topic.

"I did think we will have more first years though. But only 3 joined, and now our roster is even smaller than before," he sighs. He did think lots of amazing new middle school graduates will take one look at Karasuno's performance and trip over themselves trying to join the resurrected powerhouse school of Miyagi.

"That's because we did well in only one tournament. That's not enough to change the status of the school or the word-of-mouth on how it is perceived, even if we are regarded as strong opponents by other high schools."

"True, true. We will go to the Inter-High this year and show them, yeah! Oh, and the teams will be so different now. Ushiwaka and the Great King gone, and the little giant from Wakunan too. Aone-san's blocks will be so much scarier I'm sure now that he is a third-year, and Mad Dog will be super-duper levelled up too. And Goshiki and Kindaichi will have become so much better now. And Kunimi! I hated to see him being so much better than me and yet so lazy, but he will have improved too, I just know it. And the entire Johzenji team will be full of crazy strong third years now! I can't wait to see it! Oh and Hyakuzawa too! God forbid he has grown even taller than before, ughhh," Hinata exclaimed all this gleefully without pausing for breath, his voice echoing in the lonely road. "But I sooo want to play against Ushiwaka and the Great King again with our new team and see how we fare! Our senpais gave the team so much foundation, and even if I always knew that, it is hard to actually play now that they are really gone. I miss them sooo much."

"Yeah. Calm the fuck down, dumbass. Breathe a little."

"Stupid Kageyama. Don't you agree?" Hinata couldn't calm down now after working himself up so much, and with Sakanoshita fast approaching his brain was subconsciously aware of his time limit to vomit out all the thoughts that had sprung up once he had started talking.

"Hmm. I do. Our opponents will be tough for sure and the first years need a lot of training. Date Tech will be the most difficult, I think, but we can't let our guard down on others." Kageyama says evenly after a moment.

"Of course! I will be super good at my serves by June, you will see." Hinata raises his fist up at the sky in a bad superhero imitation as he says this, and expects Kageyama to insult him soundly, but only hears a soft "pfft" of dismissal instead.

"Yeah, yeah. We will see. Go home now dumbass, we have a long day of practice tomorrow, and you can't skip out of it like today," was all that Kageyama has to say. Hinata felt weirded out. He was being almost... nice, like he really cared about Hinata getting home and feeding Natsu. Like he really wanted to see him tomorrow all geared up for a gruelling practice.

They were at Sakanoshita's shop now and as he was about to bid him goodbye, Kageyama said, "It's nice to see you working hard." Hinata at first doubted Kageyama's tone, sure that he was receiving a mocking jab rather than genuine acknowledgement, but one look at Kageyama's face told him otherwise.

He could only nod cluelessly and bike away after that, wondering at the change that had come over Kageyama. He was not all that different from before, still criticizing Hinata's play every day and insulting him every chance he got, but the head grabs and punches had reduced to once a day. And Kageyama's face was so much more relaxed now than before, less grumpy, less frowny, even during practice. The average time span of his bouts of anger at Hinata had lessened too.

He was _calmer_ now, to put it succinctly. Hinata thought back to this time last year - the arrogant, angry, demanding, self-centred Kageyama who had settled down just enough after their practice match against Seijoh to not look like he wanted to throttle Hinata every time his sight fell on him. What brought on the change? Was it confidence in himself and his teammates and his place on the team? Was it maturity now that he was an upperclassman? Hinata guffawed at the thought as he kept cycling. Kageyama did not care about being a senpai and having people look up at him. It must be confidence then, coupled with the fact that he was now nationally recognized for his prowess as a player. At the rate he kept improving, his future after high school to continue playing volleyball at a high level must look all the more secure.

This realization won't make Kageyama lazy, oh no, it will make him work _even harder_ now, more than he already did, and he was easily the hardest working person that Hinata knew.

Hinata pedalled faster at the thought. His own ideas for volleyball after high school had planted themselves in his head four months ago and had only been growing since then, looking clearer and clearer with each passing day. He would come to a decision soon and approach the coach with his thoughts. Maybe he will ask Kageyama too. But maybe not, since he wanted to make the decision on his own. He recalled his former self too, a year ago from today, all eager but without any actual skill, someone who just wanted to spike and spike the ball into the night, having dreams of becoming the ace hitter. He was so dreadfully uninformed about everything, and the current cognizance of his former ignorance told him just how much he didn't know, as opposed to before when he thought that it was only a matter of finding a good team to become great and win nationals.

He quickly shook off that line of thought, he didn't want to think of just _how_ ignorant he had been till the recent past when he was biking in the dark along the treacherous mountain slopes. He will surely hit a tree and fall on his face if he went down that rabbit hole.

Still, the change in Kageyama was something he welcomed, and for all his diminished rudeness, Hinata was grateful and wanted to do something nice for him. It was fair, he thought. He glided down the slope and wondered what he could do. But first things first, go home and make a nutritious and filling meal for himself and Natsu.

\---

Saturday's practice was long and hard and extremely rewarding, and with no classes on the weekend, the day just seemed extra pleasant to Hinata. He climbs up the stairs to the clubroom to fetch his bento with the rest of the team as break time rolls around. The conversation revolves around Nishinoya's emphatic declarations about how girls particularly love it when boys offer to help them with their own club practices, something Yaotome - the first-year libero-in-training - loudly decrees to be true after having done exactly that with a classmate back in middle school and consequently successfully getting to text her for a full week.

"Which club was she in?" Hinata asks curiously, wondering why anyone would need help from someone who knew nothing about what happened in that club.

"The concert band club, Hinata-san! She played the tuba and it always sounded like farting you know! But that was because she was not very good, I heard her senpais playing it once and they sounded less like blowing farts and more like clouds rumbling," Yaotome explains with a smile.

"So how did you help?" Shoji, the quiet, gruff first-year that would probably be a regular on the team as the right-side hitter, asks with a very serious expression.

"Oi Shoji, don't get ideas, young man! Just because you seem likely to become a regular doesn't mean you can entertain thoughts about wooing girls and abandon practice!" Tanaka roars from behind them. "And you will not trump your senpai in high school just so you know, I'll definitely find a girl before any of you kids do."

Hinata doubts that Tanaka would, but keeps his mouth shut. Tanaka-san would surely only pursue Shimizu senpai, even if she had graduated now. He thinks he had overheard the other third years talking about Tanaka-san and Shimizu-san keeping in touch, but even if that wasn't true, it didn't matter. Tanaka-san is very single-minded and Hinata could easily resonate with him. He will not replace volleyball with tennis even if he magically got national-level tennis skills today, so he doesn't think Tanaka-san will put anyone above Shimizu senpai in his affections, even if the possibility of having a relationship with another high school girl suddenly arose. Hinata briefly wonders if him getting magic tennis skills and Tanaka getting a girlfriend was a fair comparison, but quickly forgets about it when Nishinoya inadvertently rescues the now confused and scared first-years.

"Don't worry, Ryu! These discussions will help them after high school, it is very important that they learn it now from us when they can! They won't start now, right? Of course, practice comes above everything!" Nishinoya ends all doubts with a loud laugh, seemingly deciding the first-years' lives for them in the process. The first-years though were grateful for it and scramble to express their agreement with his statement, vigorously nodding and getting slaps and hair ruffles by Nishinoya in return.

They start pulling out their bentos and make their way to sit outside the gym and eat together. That was when Yamaguchi prompts Yaotome to answer the previous question. "So how were you helpful to a tuba player, Yaotome-kun?"

"Oh, I agreed to carry it for her when they broke up for individual practice. She always went to a classroom a floor above the music room for her own! And after practice ended I carried it for her to her home, her house was in the opposite direction of mine so she must have liked it you know! That's how I know this!" Yaotome finishes with a mouth full of rice.

"So you were an unpaid labourer and even then you got nowhere around to actually date her. Why exactly does that make you happy?" Tsukishima drawls monotonously, but Yaotome was too simple to feel the effects of the snark as it was intended and cheerfully says, "because I now have experience with girls and can help my friends with it!"

"So manly, Yaotome, keep it up!" Nishinoya exclaims with a thumbs up, entrancing the first-years with how cool the gesture looked.

"I seriously did not think the stupidity levels here could fall below the low bar of last year," Tsukishima looks genuinely distressed as he says this and Hinata sees Yamaguchi elbowing him.

Huh. That was new. Yamaguchi did not _elbow_ Tsukishima. The act looks so irreverent to their usual dynamic that Hinata feels concerned about the other changes in the people around him that had escaped his notice. Granted, he was not a very observant person, but for Yamaguchi - who only ever spoke softly and respectfully to everyone, especially Tsukishima - to physically jostle and reprimand Tsukishima for his rudeness to people, was enough to make Hinata gape at them. Tsukishima mutters a quiet "sorry" to Yamaguchi and it was all Hinata could do to not point at them and yell out this apparent new development.

But he is stopped from doing that when, in typical slowpoke behaviour, Kageyama asks, "What is a tuba?"

"Just like the single brain celled idiot to ask what crime was committed when the criminal is being executed," Tsukishima scoffs. Kageyama shrugs off the insult, completely unbothered, and if Hinata's thoughts on Kageyama's apparent new calmness from yesterday had not already prepared him for this change in behaviour, he would have actually ended up pointing at him and screaming his observation.

"It's a musical instrument, Kageyama-san! It sounds like farts if not played well and the tuba players are like the backbenchers in the concert band. But I don't think they have a choice in the matter! They just have to sit at the back. Oh, and it is very heavy and huge and is held with both hands. You have to blow into a tube!"

Kageyama stops chewing for a moment and says, "like the party horns? We blow them to celebrate teammates' birthdays in the clubroom."

Hinata thinks that Kageyama was surely the stupidest person alive! "He just said it was huge and heavy, stupid!"

"But we blow on them too so the concept is the same, dumbass."

"But you can't make music with party horns! So the standard isn't the same! You are insulting tuba players when you say this, what if someone said volleyball was just tennis with hands and more players and a bigger ball? It's insulting," Hinata emphatically says, wanting Kageyama to do better.

"Oh, sorry."

Hinata was not expecting him to relent so quickly, but feels content all the same and goes back to scarf down his lunch.

The rest of the team seem dazed by the weird exchange, sitting unmovingly, mouths open in wonder, and only Ennoshita ordering them to finish their lunches with a 'so that you can reasonably digest it a little before practice resumes' snaps them out of it.

\---

Hinata feels particularly lively as practice ends, with his new failure-to-success rate for serves at 38 to 13, his digs never failing once in the scrimmage they had that day, his serve reception rate improving steadily too and of course, winning the scrimmage against the team that had Tsukishima! The highlight of the day though was when he actually received Kageyama's serve once without flying backwards and got a grumpy nod of approval from the boy too, easily dismissing the thought that Kageyama's serves were not at their best at the moment. He is so happy that he feels like immediately doing something nice for Kageyama like he has wanted to since yesterday. He has not decided what the nice thing would be, but maybe he could buy him an extra curry bun. Or buy him a popsicle. Or both.

"Hinata, will you practice in the park for a while?" questions Kageyama.

"Yeah sure," Hinata beams, thinking he had found the nice thing he wanted to do. But then he frowns - no, he also wants to practice, this wouldn't be the same as doing something _for_ him! Then asks, "but why didn't you ask before captain locked up the gym? It's not like we can't stay and borrow the keys. We are upperclassmen now, you know," he smugly says as he pulls out his bike.

"It's too hot and the gym feels stuffy. I want to see your serves anyway, I didn't get to observe them today," Kageyama replies with all the seriousness of a tutor - as if it were his business in life to correct Hinata. Which it was, probably, Hinata absently thinks.

"Ugh okay, let's go."

They reach the vacant park near Sakanoshita's shop and Hinata sets the ball a few times to himself as Kageyama pulls on his kneepads. He had made quick work of it himself while Kageyama was busy staring at god-knows-what in the bushes.

They practice for all of 15 minutes before Kageyama comes up and proceeds with his nattering. "Your wrists are too tight, idiot. You are barely flicking them. To get a topspin you need to have them looser and flick it more - like this. And do the serve toss with more spin too. This is the easiest serve to receive unless you aim and try to hit corners and lines and make the opponents think it may go out. You suck too much now for it to be anywhere near useful."

"I already know that, stupid Kageyama! Geez, why do you think I have been trying so hard to hit lines for 3 weeks!" Hinata grumbled unhappily, frustrated more at himself than at Kageyama.

Kageyama stares at him, his scowling expression melting away to an astute, assessing gaze, after which he pats Hinata's head and says, "Okay then, let's continue," as he walks to his position.

The head pat was so uncharacteristic a response that Hinata couldn't take it any longer.

"Why are you being so nice these days, Bakayama? It's creepy. Actually no, it is not creepy, but that itself is creepy, you know. Any niceness from you was automatically creepy before and the fact that it is not anymore is very suspicious and creepy."

"The fuck are you talking about, dumbass? You make no sense. Stop wasting time now and spacing out."

"I am not spacing out! In fact, I am focusing! Focusing very hard on your behaviour, that is."

This gave Kageyama a pause. "My behaviour?"

"Yeah, you are not perpetually grumpy anymore! And are even shrugging off insults from Tsukishima! Not to mention you thanked me for walking with you yesterday! That was like, super weird! Even I have never thanked anyone for walking with me before, Kageyama. And what did you mean when you said that it was nice that I was practising hard? I am still not convinced it wasn't a jab, you know!" Hinata flinches on finishing the rant. His plans on not negatively commentating on Kageyama's improving behaviour had fallen apart in just a day. He curses his stupid mouth and is about to apologize when Kageyama asks, "and... that's bad?"

"Not bad! Just, just, I don't know, a new Kageyama that I don't know about!" he explains lamely.

"Oh. Idiot, why didn't you ask yesterday if what I said bothered you. Since when have you started filtering your thoughts and thinking before doing, huh? I think you are the one that has changed, not me, dumbass."

"Huh? I am being thoughtful, why is _that_ weird? And I always think of things, alwaaaays."

"Pfft. Whatever. I meant what I said, that it is good that you are working hard on other skills too. What else can that possibly mean?" Kageyama asks while walking up to him.

"I don't know but why would you even say it! Why won't I work hard? You know very well that I have to, you are always critiquing me anyway so why should that surprise you?"

"It did not surprise me. But it is nice all the same."

"Huh? What does that even mean?" He did not realize he was squishing the ball while miserably failing to explain his agitation and getting his incredulity at the statement across to Kageyama.

Kageyama pries the ball out of his hands and quietly says, "because some people would stop, you know, if they experienced what you did in January."

In January. The month was innocuous enough, but the connotations had forever changed for Hinata. And he picked up on it but was still very confused.

"You thought I will stop trying hard after getting a fever and getting benched and costing my team a win?" Hinata asks desperately, searching Kageyama's face for an answer. Of course he would not, he cannot! He cannot let that happen again, surely Kageyama knew that? "Don't tell me you are going easy on me and being nice to me because you are afraid I will lose motivation, Kageyama!" he angrily dares Kageyama to refute him.

"Of course I am not going easy on you, you dolt! When have I ever?" Kageyama asked incredulously, chucking the ball away in irritation.

"So when have I not worked hard?" Hinata shouts. The both of them stare at each other, trying to understand what secret thought processes the other boy has been going through, an apparent stranger of a person who thinks things and does things differently now standing in their practice partner's place.

"Well, that is it. You overworked yourself. And I don't want that to happen again!"

"For heaven's sake, do you think I did not realize that? It's been three months, and this is the first time you said anything about it!"

"I know you have realized things! Stop shouting for a damn minute and do the thinking that you have been doing so much of recently!"

"I don't understand," Hinata sighs, feeling tired. This was turning out to be a very weird, very incomprehensible fight. It was not even a fight. He did not know what it was. "Let's cool down. We can continue this tomorrow," he proffered. Kageyama mutely accepted and they both took a few minutes to cool down in silence, calming down their annoyance.

He crosses his legs and picks at the grass, quietly asking, "tell me what you meant, Kageyama." His face twists in an unhappy frown as his gaze doesn't leave the ground, looking for all the world like a picture of dissatisfaction.

Kageyama sighs and mirrors Hinata. It was troublesome to explain himself. It was even more troublesome when Hinata looked like that, sullen and morose, but he understood the seriousness of the moment, at least.

"You - ever since nationals ended you have been quieter than usual. You are still very loud, and still very annoying when Tanaka-san and Nishinoya-san rile you up with some stupid new thing, but all the other times you are so quiet and space out, looking far away at something. But then I realized that you were not spacing out, you were observing things, studying and learning, and thinking it through, and commenting and teaching the team on what you noticed, and I don't know what to make of that. You have been doing this since that training camp you barged in on, but after nationals, you are just quiet all the time. I don't know how much of the time you are thinking of volleyball and spending productively, and how much of it you spend thinking of - you know - like how much you are dwelling, o-on unpleasant things..." Kageyama finishes with a stutter, looking hesitant and frowning.

"So... you were _worried_ about me? Oh my god, Kageyama, you have levelled up!" Hinata could not believe his ears. It took Kageyama only three months to express that he might be worried about his teammate, by apparently observing him intently during practice and keeping mum about it.

"Shut up! It was weird as hell! That's the only reason why I noticed it in the first place!" Kageyama furiously snipes at Hinata's head, all hesitancy gone in the face of such blatant mocking.

"Ah okay, okay stop! I was not making fun of you! It was very nice to know Yamayama-kun!" Hinata grins at him, all irritation replaced with delight and the feeling of wanting to do something nice for his partner returned doubly now. Kageyama only grunted in response. Hinata feels all warm and happy at the thought that something like _worry for Hinata_ could be the cause behind Kageyama's slightly changed behaviour.

"Well, the way you say it you make it sound like I am never chatting with the team. Surely, someone else would have commented by now if I am quiet _all the time_ like you say."

"Oh. Hmm. Maybe I just notice you more than the others," Kageyama says, his eyebrows pulled together in question as if he himself were not sure of what he just said.

Hinata simply stares, then having no answer to Kageyama's silent question, shakes his head, and asks "I really am quieter?"

"I mean you are still annoying as hell when you join the first-years and senpais in their antics, but like, it doesn't feel like you need a tranquillizer 24/7 to be kept quiet. So that's a big difference."

Hinata wasn't sure which part of the sentence to take offence at first so he decides to forego his decision-making and flings the huge amounts of grass bunched up in his fists at Kageyama.

"You fucking scrub!" Kageyama yells and lunges at his offender, fully intending to strangle him then and there, Inter-High and any future in professional volleyball be damned.

"Owwwww! Ow ow ow sorry sorry Kageyama, stop! I will go bald!" he cries out. When Kageyama finally moved back and Hinata sat up, his hair looked like a literal nest, full of dust and grass and coupled with a dazed expression, it was enough to satisfy Kageyama. He smirked as he watched Hinata frantically brushing off the grass, all the while muttering curses at him, and once the boy was done, asks, "And what did you mean when you said that I am nicer?"

"Oh, that," Hinata continues brushing at some part of his hair as he looks away into the distance while he answers, seemingly thinking carefully again, but completely unaware of the sight he presented - one Kageyama was extremely unused to. "I meant you are calmer, less snappy now, and you don't scowl nearly as much, and your insults are also less insulting. And you are being so earnest sometimes when you talk. Like you really want to know about things other than volleyball. What's with that Kageyama? Did something happen?" Hinata asks the last part with a concerned frown, turning to look at Kageyama, the thought that something could have happened to him apparently occurring to Hinata at the same time as he verbalized it.

"Nothing happened, idiot," Kageyama says softly, feeling warmed by the concern on his dumb friend's face. "I don't really know what you are referring to, but maybe it is the same as it is with you not realizing the change in yourself. I don't really feel any inclination to be kinder or gentler than before nor do I realize if I was angrier before."

"Oh okay. Wow, you sound so smart Kageyama, this makes so much sense!" Hinata exclaimed, completely enamoured with Kageyama's reasoning, and then, "I bet that asshole Tsukishima will also not be able to call us stupid when we settle things with so much thought now!" He pronounced his belief with two tightly raised fists in front him and a gleam in his eye.

"Yeah, he will have no excuse to call us single brain celled now and will probably flail about trying to think of an insult at all," Kageyama smirks.

Suffice to say, they both did not grow in intelligence any more now that they were second-years. In his bedroom, a sudden shiver came over Tsukishima.

"Let's go Kageyama! I will treat you today!"

"Huh? Why?"

"No reason, I want to treat you! I am older and want to congratulate you on reaching my level of maturity!"

"We are both the same age so shut your damn trap, you pest"

"Don't be shy! Let's go!"

"No wait, you go if you have to, I want to see something."

"... What?"

Kageyama walks to the bushes he was staring at when they first came here today and says, "this morning as I was coming to school I saw two puppies here. I wanted to pet them but couldn't stop to do to that back then. So I want to check now."

Hinata feels so giddy at the earnestness in his friend's face that he bounds over to him and both of them push through the bushes to check for cute animals.

"Are you sure you saw puppies?" whispered Hinata.

"I was, now shut up."

"You know if there are pups here their mom might be somewhere around too, and if she is then she will definitely bite you or growl at you if try to pick them up."

"But," Kageyama's face falls, "Is there no way to let her know that I am harmless?" He looks at Hinata for answers, his lip quivering, eyes glistening. Hinata decides that _that_ will be the nice thing that he will do, and promises, "there is Kageyama! Let's come here tomorrow with some treats, we can pet her first if she is around, and make friends with her! After that, we can follow her here and approach the puppies with the treats, maybe some milk too! They will happily down it and then we can pet them and they won't be scared and the mom won't be aggressive either!"

Kageyama feels entirely convinced of Hinata's plans - yes, _surely_ puppies will love milk! And their mom will get respite too if the puppies stop suckling on her for while! Hinata had great ideas, sometimes.

They depart in happy moods with the promise of more volleyball even on their rest day and a puppy rendezvous in the works, stomachs filled with curry buns and ice pops, excitedly waiting for tomorrow as they made their way home.

\---

Sunday night saw a very pleased Kageyama preparing himself for bed. He had gotten some light practice earlier that day even when it was the team's rest day, made friends with a grouchy but adorable mom dog, and had soft, warm-bodied puppies lick at his hands and look up at him with wide, trusting eyes when he scratched behind their ear, never flinching or running away. Never before had an animal been so quick to give him a chance, and today there had been three! He opened his phone to see the pictures he had taken of the pups, feeling a wobbly smile come on his face on seeing his hand on the pups' heads, feeling oh so accomplished.

He scrolled further, finding a picture of a jumping Hinata trying to get the mom to play fetch with him and being roundly ignored, and another of him holding the puppies in his arms, a bright grin directed at Kageyama. Hinata looked very much at home in the setting, and the thought warmed Kageyama even more for some reason.

Like Hinata was made for existing in happy settings.

He looked at the next few pictures of himself holding the puppies, never looking at the camera once in fear that one of them would just run off the moment he looked away. He remembers Hinata's incessant "there's no point if you don't show your face in the pictures Bakageyama," but he couldn't afford to do that. So the top his head and his face gazing downwards at the small, round puppies, both of whom were cuddled comfortably in his large hands, was all he had managed. He didn't care much about it, but was pleased all the same that there was evidence of his successful animal petting, and decided to shoot a text to Hinata. It was thanks to him, after all.

The response he got was full of exclamations of 'oh my god you are thanking me again!' and he decided that was enough texting and bid him goodnight.

It got him thinking to yesterday, as he laid back on his bed and pulled the covers on top of him. Did he really never thank people? He was sure he did - maybe it was just Hinata he didn't acknowledge then? That was more than likely, and he wondered if he should have tried harder or noticed more when Hinata had been extending his kindnesses to him over the year they had known each other.

He turned on his side and tried to recall all such instances of being shown kindness by the dumbass and frowned. The moments must be few and far between because the pair of them were really just arguing or shoving each other most of the time outside of practice.

 _Ah, right_ \- when he complimented Kageyama on his skills was one of those instances. He would gawk at him and exclaim in wonder, looking up at him with stars in his eyes. But that was just typical Hinata - fawning over anyone whose volleyball skills he got enamoured by. So Kageyama saw no reason to reciprocate that - it was just like the idiot to fall over himself, grabbing people's arms to reverently proclaim how cool they looked when they pulled off a certain move. Kageyama was sure he would compliment Hinata when he started deserving it. Maybe, probably. He hoped he would, but was absently aware he is more likely to never praise him in admiration for his volleyball skills, of all things. Maybe his ability to befriend animals he could compliment. Yeah, he will do that. Maybe, probably.

So when else was Hinata _kind_ to him? A moment from a year ago flitted through his mind - Hinata resolutely declaring that he didn't care about Kageyama's middle school experience, that he would accept every ball set up for him to spike with the utmost gratefulness. Yeah, that was nice. He probably did not mean to be kind when he said it, nor intended it as a means to cheer Kageyama in the face of Tsukishima's goading, but Kageyama felt it all the same.

Oh, and another - Hinata crowning him with his sweaty towel, as if dumping all his faith in Kageyama once and for all so that he stopped wasting time fumbling about trying not to displease this wonderful new team; as if pushing Kageyama to simply get on with his game because nobody apparently cared if he was a socially inept brute. He knew Hinata didn't care about that, he was always demanding things of Hinata after all.

But the team? They wouldn't mind? - when he let his mind and mouth run away from him and sprang upon his unsuspecting hitters in angry impatience - words harsh, voice loud; when he reimmersed himself in that scene back from middle school without recognizing the steps his mind had taken to get there, feeling empowered after a particularly enlightening training camp among monsters of the sport, skin tingling to rise higher, get better, _go there again_. Wouldn't they mind his monstrous ways?

The team had simply listened, and understood, and patted his back, no words passing between them except brainstorming and arguing over new strategies, as teams do.

He was lucky they were there, and he was lucky Hinata was there. And yet, again, nothing Hinata did was laced with any intentions of wanting Kageyama to feel better. He wasn't smart enough to plan all that. It was just the way he was, lifting people up, shouting out a cheer, so that no one around him ever paused when running headfast into more volleyball.

And run headfast he did, never once giving any thought to the innumerable stumbles he had, or how far ahead of him everyone ran. Never once anticipating that dashing at full speed meant the nosedive into the concrete floor below him would hurt him enough to render him immobile.

' _In January_ ' he had said yesterday during that strange confrontation with Hinata. An observant, thoughtful Hinata, more quietly intense than when he first knew him, his naivete snapped neatly and thrown away on the bus back from Tokyo. 

Had he been kind to Hinata then? When his face had twisted into agony, eyes shining with disbelief and denial, skin red and hot and wet, cries marked with sheer desperation.

Kageyama had not wanted to see that face, had not wanted to to see it replaced with an even worse face - of something horrifying like defeat or resignation. So he had riled him up, reminded him of the present, and how he got there, and how he couldn't forget this moment. He did that before Hinata drowned himself in what were surely bitter regrets, and put an end to that with _look here, I am still standing, and you have to get up and stand again, so remember this, remember that I won, and you can't win if you don't look back up again, up from the ground you seem to be staring at._

Kageyama saw his small, retreating back, till it disappeared from his sight. Someone had screamed 'Hinata Shoyou, I'll be waiting for you' from across the net and he had agreed with that mentally.

He had met Hinata that night, wishing him a fast recovery, but the words exchanged between them were too unremarkable to be noteworthy. He hadn't felt an undercurrent of emotion, any extraordinary realization dawning on them, any monumental shift in their relationship. He had taken one look at Hinata's face and had known, and had known that Hinata knew. Nothing had to be said, the team was in a joyful mood, and if he was the only one who noticed the faraway, enlightened gleam in the eyes of their sick teammate, well, it was not something that warranted discussion with anyone. 

"Kageyama," Hinata said the first time he was back in the gym, after 3 days of recovery, "do you have any tips regarding personal maintenance? I have asked everyone else on the team. What do you say?"

And that was that. Hinata Shoyou would continue to batter and bruise himself as he tried to run with everyone, but he had learnt how to pace himself now.

Kageyama fell asleep with a stray thought about how running with someone again felt incredibly fulfilling.

\---

The fifth time Kageyama saw Hinata hogging the tablet from their coach, he wanted to smack him for wasting time on the internet. It was entirely possible to get addicted to it, he knew his classmates were, always loudly droning on and on about this idol group or that anime or that funny thing they saw online when Kageyama was trying to sleep during lunch breaks.

On the sixth time he decided he would smack him, and while walking over to him saw the transfixed expression on Hinata's face. He paused mid-step, unsure if he wanted to disturb that concentration, when Hinata looked up and yelled, "Man, the sand must be so tough to play on!"

Kageyama was sure that the sand must be tough to play on but had no real experience to actually corroborate Hinata's claim, so he kept his mouth shut.

Today, as the team chows down pork buns after a scrimmage against Takeuchi High School, Hinata sits away from the rumble of excited discussion, hands holding the tablet and eyes gliding over the screen as he watches the Olympic beach volleyball finals between Brazil and USA. Kageyama thinks he hears Ukai muttering something about data tariffs.

"Why have you been borrowing the tablet so much lately?" Kageyama asks after they bid the rest of the team goodnight.

"Oh, that's - it's, it's nothing."

Kageyama doesn't believe it and says nothing. He knows Hinata will eventually crack.

"I was watching beach volleyball matches."

"I realized."

"Yeah, so that is all."

"Hmm."

He knew at this point that Hinata wanted to keep this private. The thought that Hinata wanted to keep things from him thoroughly discomfited him.

"Why were you doing that?"

"Ah it's - well, you see..."

"Huh? Why are you so nervous?"

"I am not! Nervous, that is! It's just - I am planning to train with beach volleyball after high school, so I was just thinking... of making sure that - making sure of my decision. I was watching the matches and I feel surer now than before."

The whole thing was stuttered out and it made Kageyama's head spin. The content of the stuttering made it spin even more.

"Why - the beach? Beach volleyball? Have you played it before?"

"No. That's why I want to."

"What does that mean? You don't _have_ to do it just because you haven't."

"That's not why I am doing it!"

"Don't tell me you are switching to beach now, dumbass."

"Uh no, silly, I'm not switching over permanently."

"Then why?"

Kageyama notices that they had both stopped walking.

"I have to get better, right! I am so far behind everyone who has been training and playing the right way for years now! I barely developed any skills in middle school beyond training my spiking form! And I know, I know I can get better, much better if I train on the beach where it's the same court but only two people on it. I would be half the team!"

"But it is an entirely different sport! If you don't want to leave indoor for beach then why spend time - months and years probably! - learning it?"

"I would learn much more quickly than if I stayed with indoor and grappled with learning skills! Beach will accelerate that, you know! I will be able to go up to your level! Right now, I am at the bottom of the staircase, and you and so many others are already on the 5th floor, probably!"

Kageyama is even more confused now, but he absolutely has to correct Hinata.

"You are not at the bottom."

"I - what?"

"You are not at the bottom of the goddamn staircase. And you still have this year and the next to improve yourself. How are you so sure you won't be higher up when high school ends?"

"Huh? Kageyama, is this your way of complimenting me? Geez, thanks! But you are not getting it!"

"I am not getting _what_?" Kageyama snaps, now fully wishing he had never begun this discussion, his patience running thinner as he spiralled into greater confusion.

"That by the time high school ends, everyone who is already so, so far ahead of me will continue to be that far ahead. I can never hope to bridge the gap if I spend years on this court where my roles and skills will always be miles behind the ones who go pro, and I will always be restricted no matter how hard I train because there are 5 others to split the task with! I will not be given opportunities to fill the holes in my skills if I keep concentrating on only a few of them! And if I do that, then with this height and only a handful of things that I can do well, I will never, ever, _ever_ be chosen over someone who is bigger and stronger than me! I can't do anything about my height, so I have to make sure I can do everything that is possibly required of me when I step on the court! Or I'll never be at the top!"

Hinata practically yells out the last part, panting heavily as he finishes his response, willing his words to drill themselves into Kageyama.

"You should understand this Kageyama," he whispers. "I want - I want you to understand." Hinata swallows and looks up at him, his eyes searching Kageyama's, hoping to see understanding.

Kageyama sighs. "I don't," he replies honestly, because he didn't. Training and practice and hard-work will take people to the top, so he did not understand how following the same path as now will not work for Hinata - the unskilled boy who had come so far in just a year of proper training. "But I will. I - uh, I will try to understand from your point of view," he promises, because he will. He will be kind to Hinata, just like Hinata had been to him so many times.

Hinata smiles widely at Kageyama, eyes crinkling, a merry "Okay!" ringing in the quiet road, and the sight lodges something painful in Kageyama's throat.

\---

By the time the Inter-High Prelims qualifiers roll around, Kageyama has a recurring bad dream. It isn't a nightmare per se, but when he wakes up it leaves unpleasantness and disappointment coursing through him. The team was now aware of Hinata's plans to train on the beach after high school as his coach-hunting for beach volleyball was in full swing.

The dream had a retreating back, walking further and further away from him, never looking back. He never remembers any details when he wakes up except the tingling feeling that he wants to stop the person from walking away from him, to stop and just wait, _wait_ _dammit_ , so that they could walk together.

They are on break and Hinata is off to discuss something - probably about beach volleyball - with Ukai, so Kageyama gulps down his drink and watches the clouds move slowly in the summer sky. It's getting hotter, he thinks absently, feeling his shorts and shirt stick uncomfortably to his skin. Yamaguchi sits a few feet away from him, joined by the first years, and his ears pick up on their conversation.

"... but why beach? He is so good at indoor and will keep getting more and more awesome!" Yaotome asks agitatedly, not understanding his senpai's decisions. That makes two of us, Kageyama thinks.

"Ah, well, it is for him to decide I think. He really wants to continue playing after high school and thinks beach is the best way for him to begin, so we can't really discourage his plans." Yamaguchi, ever the peacekeeper, supplies.

"But what is so good about beach volleyball if he ultimately wants to play indoor professionally?" Tokita, the most level-headed of the first-years, asks.

"Yes, even if he doesn't get into the best universities, he will still get to play a lot, and maybe even get noticed to play in the professional leagues. And if not the V-league then surely, surely the lower leagues will have him! And he can work his way up! But I really doubt he won't be great or get into some great team though! Senpai is so good at hitting and his digs are really great! He will be a promising candidate!" Yaotome exclaims, partly frustrated, partly delighted by the vision he conjured up.

"Because," Kageyama says, as realization dawns on him, staring at the vast expanse of the sky, "he doesn't want to be anywhere but in the best teams. He doesn't want to play in the lower leagues and work his way up. He doesn't want to be a promising candidate, he wants to be the strongest. He wants to land his first step at the top of the staircase. At the top of the building, probably."

He pictures Hinata descending on the world like a brute, making everyone see him, pick him, be astonished by him - his skills crafted and polished with years of drudgery under the sun, arms tanned and feet sandy. A forgotten scream of someone announcing that they will be waiting for Hinata Shoyou appears in his head, now more vivid, the weighty meaning behind the words standing out in stark clarity.

The first-years look appropriately confused and flustered by Kageyama's speech, who was still looking at the sky with wide, distant eyes. Yamaguchi only smiles, somehow understanding the intent behind Kageyama's dull attempt at metaphors.

"Well that's it, isn't it. He wants to be the best," Yamaguchi says to the first-years, and smiles gently, knowingly at Kageyama, even as the other doesn't see him.

Practice resumes.

The person walking away from him in his dreams stops, looks back, a bright grin overcoming his features, and promises, "As long as we have volleyball, we will never be apart!" Right. So he won't worry about Hinata leaving then, because he wasn't.

**Author's Note:**

> ((Reposted because I had too many edits))
> 
> Will keep updating with short, silly snippets like the one above. I hope you enjoyed reading it! Cheers, and stay safe. :)


End file.
